Harry Potter and the Secret Cousin
by Arienis
Summary: Fate brings Olivia Camelle into a world where good and evil are entwined, when she witnesses Harry Potter disappears before her eyes . Danger is at every corner of this adventure. OC
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Yes, yes, the Arienis is back again, accompanied by the latest story from my brain. Actually, I wrote this some time ago, and am pleased to say that I like it so far. So I figured, hey why not give it a chance on the network? So here it is. Of course I don't own any characters of Harry Potter, but I do have all rights over Olivia Camelle as well as her parents and a couple other characters in the book. Thank you, and enjoy!

A train whistled nearby as I walked into the crowded station. I was waiting for a friend, Anne, from America. She was coming to visit me after five years of being penpals. Moreover, we had met once before in Boston when I had visited my uncle Don. Therefore, I was not meeting some stranger that could be a stalker.

I brought my video camera so we could go sightseeing and meet up with a couple of my pals. It was low on battery but I could stop in one of the small shops located variously around Kings Cross station and get another one if the need arose.

Sighing, I looked at the train schedule. It should be here soon. Five minutes passed, then twenty. I settled down on an empty bench by platform three. A train flew through, followed by a gust of sizzling summer wind. I looked down bitterly at my jeans. Why, oh why did the weatherman say it would be chilly?

I remembered the hushed argument my parents were having earlier in our living room, while I was watching the news in the kitchen area. My mother was apparently against something my father had just brought up. Curiosity got the better of me and I peered around the corner to look. "You heard what the headmaster said! She is in danger! We cannot expose her to those things. You and I both have spent too much time leaving that world behind to just pick it back up again." Mother was pacing back and forth, her heels scuffing the carpet. Father was sitting on the couch and holding a letter in his hands.

"Honey, I want her to know. I want her to understand that world, to live in it, as she should. We can't ignore it and hope it goes away. Remember Olivia's last birthday?"

I did. When my friends and I were at the carnival in town, strange things began to happen. All of the games broke down as soon as I touched them. We believed it was a prank. Then the manager approached us and kicked us out, for apparently breaking expensive property. My parents were a bit flustered.

Nevertheless, we shrugged it off and went for ice cream. That was even worse. The treats were disgusting; one had a spider in it. I had remarked, "It would be better if it came from a cow, instead of from a diseased skunk." When we got to our car, after throwing away the rubbish, there was a dairy cow, just standing there. It was then that my parents took me home and threw their own birthday party for me.

My father held up the letter in his hands. "If we just ask him to watch her, I'm sure she'll be fine."

But Mother had made up her mind. "No Charles. There is no going back." That was that.

I don't know what they were talking about, but it must have had something to do with me. I can't see how I am in danger though. They were fine with me going by myself to pick up Anne, though I was to call them when she got there with a payphone.

A glance at the schedule proved that the train was going to be at least an hour late. However, an hour went by and my patience was thinning. A guard came over twice to ask me if I was waiting for anyone. I simply nodded my head and replied, "Yes, but she will be here soon, thank you." He walked away and left me to wait. The second time, he looked a bit skeptical but nodded anyways and disappeared into the mass of people departing or waiting.

Truly, the weatherman must have confused the London weather with Antarctica! Everyone around was wearing t-shirts and shorts. I, on the other hand, had on tan khakis, a blue long-sleeved shirt with a nice 'v', white running shoes, I came straight over from my one-mile run in the park, and a fuzzy purple scarf. My mother and I both make scarves; it is a tradition in our family. My grandmother does it, as her mother did, and so on. Today, my hair was French-braided so it would stay in place. In addition, I had on a gold necklace with a heart-shaped locket. My parents gave it to me when I turned eight. On the front, a larkspur is engraved, the birth flower of July. In the inside, on the left, is a picture of a boy, and me, both one month old; we were born on the same day. He was a cousin I believe. However, my mother later told me that he was killed one year after the picture was taken, along with his parents. I have tried to remove it, but no matter what I do, it sticks. On the other side, is a picture of my cat Felix. He is brown with white markings on his paws and the tips of his ears. Felix has, ironically, jade eyes.

I found him in Maryland, while visiting my friend. One day, we were walking in a park and there he was, just sitting there on a grassy hill. He followed us home, and I could not bear to leave him outside. He lived with us for a month. When I returned home, I paid the airline extra for him to be aboard the plane. My parents were rather shocked when I got off the plane, and a little upset, but they let me keep him. My mother wanted to put a picture of me in the locket, but I resisted, complaining it would look conceited. Therefore, Felix was put in instead.

To pass the time I pulled out my video camera from my backpack. Turning it on, I began to record, moving the screen over the platforms. The camera saw a group of little children hanging onto a distressed mother who was looking for her tickets, a man picking his nose, and someone taking a group photo.

I had just gotten to platform nine when I spotted something, or rather, someone.

It was Harry Potter, the guy from my old school. His black hair was still messy, he wore rather large clothes, and his intense green eyes still stood out marvelously from behind his glasses. He had a strange scar on his forehead like a lightning bolt. He rather looked like me. I have dark brown, curly shoulder-length hair and bright aqua eyes, not exactly green, once concealed behind glasses; I got contacts as soon as I found that I needed them, in eighth grade. My height is 5' 5", I have a fading tan, and freckles enhance my eyes. Some teachers thought we were siblings. When someone would ask, we would stare at each other, as if the other was some space alien. Then we would shake our heads, not seeing any resemblance. 'He is a boy', I would think. 'Do they think _I look like a boy?' _Now I can see the similarities. Maybe we are related after all.

When he was in my third grade class, he somehow climbed on the roof of the building so fast no one even saw him. Harry stopped coming to school though. I heard through the grapevine that he now went to St. Brutis' School of Criminal Boys. He always seemed like a nice boy, I do not know why he went there. His cousin Dudley on the other hand was awful. The bully had picked on anyone who was smaller than he was which everyone was! He looked just like his enormous father and nothing like his slim mother; both were unpleasant.

Harry seemed to be waiting as well, his right arm slumped over a large trolley and his left holding a cage with… a snow owl inside. He must be sixteen now, as I am. On his left standing ten feet away was Mr. Dursley, huge as ever. The whale-like man appeared to be ignoring Harry, who was doing the same.

My curiosity got the better of me once again. I zoomed in a little more. Harry was watching the clock hanging from the ceiling, which read nine thirty-five. Mr. Dursley was scarlet and repeatedly straightened his bowtie.

I waited for a minute and then began to move the camera away when a girl with huge bushy hair bounded up to Harry and hugged him, followed by a sea of red. It was a group of people, all with bright red hair, consisting of all boys except for two girls. Mr. Dursley at this point took off toward the nearest exit. One of the boys approached Harry and they exchanged greetings. I could almost make out what they were saying …Hog…Grim wall…Black…Dursleys…Dumb door. Why they were talking about dumb doors and walls was beyond me.

Then they did something that I could never have expected.

Harry Potter glanced around before he turned his trolley towards the brick wall. He motioned for the boy next to him and he wheeled around his trolley as well. On the trolley was a tiny owl twittering about in a rusty cage. Harry nodded to the rest of the group. Then he and the boy both ran straight at the wall. I gasped, sure they was going to crash. At the last moment, however, Harry and the teen vanished into the divider.

Convinced I was going mad, I waited for them to appear, but they did no such thing. Another red head jerked his head at the brick. In moments, he and the bushy haired girl also disappeared through the wall. Two by two, the entire group departed. My eyes, I am sure, were big as saucers. Slowly I checked to see if the camera was still recording. It was. I hurriedly pressed the rewind button and then play.

There on my camera was proof that a group of people vanished! I stashed the camera away in my purple backpack and jumped up from my seat. I have to get over there. My friend has the directions to get to my house; I will be right back.

My feet began to jog over to platform nine. Eyes were watching me but I ignored them and proceeded toward the brick divider. Once there I leaned against the stone breathing heavily. So, they just dissolved into the atmosphere did they? Well, I think something magical happened. Careful to watch for prying eyes, I slid against the wall more. They went into the wall. I can too. I readied myself and pushed into the wall as hard as I could. There was a soaring sensation before I fell onto slick pavement.

A train whistled obnoxiously a little ways away from where I was sprawled on the floor. Above me, a sign said, 'Platform nine and three-quarters.' Three-quarters? There is no such thing! I stood up quickly and looked around me. People were bustling about, many teenagers and children were present. It appeared the teenagers were going somewhere. Some of the parents looked joyful, others looked downright miserable to see their kids off. Many of the people were wearing medieval robes and some were even wearing pointed hats. Was this some sort of convention?

I spotted Harry ten yards away with the large group around him. The man who looked to be the father of the red heads was helping load the trolleys onto the train. The man returned a few moments later.

Harry hugged everyone once again and followed the brown-headed girl and red haired boy and girl to the train.

My mind caught between two decisions; get on the train and follow Harry, or get out of here. For a moment, I pondered this. Finally, the second choice was more appealing. I walked up to the wall and tried to go back. Immediately, an alarm began to shriek.

Everyone froze, a few people screamed. Over the wailing alarm, a voice on a loudspeaker called, "security breach. Everybody stay calm." They did not say who passed through their security, but people began to panic. A few yelled, "It's you-know-who! Run for your lives!" This seemed to push everyone over the edge, and there was mass chaos.

At first I found that quite interesting. And funny. "You-know-who?" What absurd kind of name is that?

Parents began to stream into the train looking for their children. Others ran for the brick wall only to find it sealed off. A couple of adults glanced at each other and disappeared with a loud 'pop'. Teenagers were flooding out of the train. Most of the adults and some of the teens were holding sticks. What good would that do?

This officially weirded me out. I was definitely not in the right place. These people were semi-weirdo costume show people, so I did not belong there for sure.

I, on the other hand, crept toward the closest doors on the train. Maybe I was the security breach. That would mean they would be looking for me! People were disappearing left and right, it was like a madhouse. I freaked out. What is this? Magic? What is going on?! Racing up the stairs, I flew down the hall and into the last compartment, paying no notice to its occupants. I slid down the wall and settled to sitting on the lightly carpeted floor. If one were to look in, I could not be seen.

Screams and footsteps continued outside the sliding door for twenty more minutes before order restored and the wailing sirens ceased. Right when my heart rate began to slow, a cold voice called out. "Who are you?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Startled, I looked up. A boy about sixteen was glaring at me with silver eyes, framed by blond hair. He was sitting near the window, surrounded by two large boys the same age. They both looked extremely strong and not that smart. "Erm," I muttered, standing up quickly. "Olivia…" I did not want to tell them my last name, Camelle, so I used the first name that came to my head. "Olivia Potter."

The boy's eyes narrowed and he stood up. His friends rose to their feet as well. I soon regretted saying that. "_Potter_? Not related to the _famous Harry Potter_ are you?" I nodded slowly. We stared at each other for a moment. I could almost see the gears in his brain working like mad. The other boys shuffled forward a little. A shadow moved in the hallway, but I did not look back to see who it was. They stayed motionless by the door.

Then he stopped glaring and actually stuck his hand out. "Draco Malfoy." I shook it albeit uneasily. There was something about the way he said 'famous Harry Potter'. However, I couldn't waste time pondering over that. "This is Crabbe and Goyle," he pointed to each boy beside him. I nodded to each.

"So, why were you hiding?" He appeared curious. "I thought Potters were _brave _and _courageous_."

"Um…I was…" I searched my brain for an excuse. "I was hiding from my cousin," I finished hurriedly.

Draco looked disgusted for a second before saying, "I can see why." I didn't ask why. Sitting down, my backpack slid off my shoulder and onto the seat. Outside in the corridor, people were walking back to their compartments. A few were muttering loudly but others sounded shaken up.

"You get along with Potter?"

"Well, I guess. I mean, I haven't seen him in a long time." This part was the truth. My hands fidgeted with the zipper on the bag. I dropped my scarf into the bag, and retrieved my green hooded sweatshirt, sliding it over my head. It was a bit unnerving, three people staring at you as if you were pulling a prank on them. "Um…" I stopped for a second, "so you know my cousin?" Draco nodded slightly.

"A royal mess he's been, _famous _Potter. I honestly don't know why he is in Gryffindor. I bet he just makes stories up and gets credit for them. I wouldn't doubt it if he caused the security breach for attention. Has bodyguards everywhere you look."

This puzzled me. As far as I could tell, only two adults were with him. "Really?" I asked. He gave me a fleeting look of surprise.

"You don't see them?" Draco stood up, his cronies doing the same. "Come on, I'll show you." He led the way out of the room, pausing at the door. I hadn't moved. "Well? Are you coming?" A moment of indecision was upon me. I could stay here and wait for, well, I do not know what, but I'd wait. On the other hand, I could follow him; possibly make some friends in the process. He seemed nice enough, though there was something about his glare earlier. A little scary, it was. Reaching my verdict, I stood up and trailed behind him. Crabbe and Goyle stood on either side of him, so they hid me from view, though that was not their purpose.

We passed by many compartments, most of which were full. "Won't you lose your compartment?" I questioned. Draco glanced back.

"No. I jinxed the door." We reached the doorway leading outside. Draco jumped down, his robes billowing in the breeze. Wait a minute. Who wears robes in this time? The people here must be some club, convention, or something. I leapt off as well, landing in a crouch. I stood up instantly and moved just in time before the large boys landed on me.

Draco pointed to the right a bit. There was Harry Potter, still with the red haired family and bushy haired girl, was now surrounded by five serious looking adults; a man with shabby robes and graying hair, a man with an eye that moved everywhere, even into his head, a woman with spiked cotton-candy-colored hair, and two other men. All of them were holding those sticks. I then gazed at the wall, which I had entered. Adults heavily guarded it, also holding sticks and talking to each other in hushed tones. Everyone in the vicinity was searched, for anything dangerous perhaps. They were handing over their sticks to a person carrying something like a credit card slot. The sticks were examined and waved over the small machine. The machine then slid out a piece of paper with something typed on it. The receipt along with the stick, returned to the owner and they could leave or enter the train.

A tap on my shoulder made me turn. The man with the tatty clothes was standing in front of me. His stick pointed at me. I had to stop myself from laughing. What was he going to do with a stick, hit me? He spoke clearly, "I need to see your wands." It was a simple request, yet I had no idea what he was talking about.

"Er," I began, looking for help at the others. Draco pulled out his stick, and handed it to the man, who waved it over the small box. A small receipt appeared. The man glanced at it.

"Draco Malfoy, the last thing used this wand for was to jinx a door on the Hogwarts Express," he read aloud with one raised eyebrow. "Very well." He handed the 'wand' and the receipt to Draco who sneered and pocketed the items. The same thing happened with Crabbe and Goyle, both who passed inspection. "Crabbe, you used this wand to hex a first year on the last day of school." Crabbe looked very happy about this. "And Goyle, this was used to throw food in someone's face this morning." He nodded. Then the man turned to me. I did not know what to do. I did not have a wand! Maybe they would arrest me, but I rather wanted to stay and find out what they were doing, now that I was there.

The man spoke. "Where's your wand?" I searched for an excuse.

"I-I forgot it on the train." He gazed at me for a moment, not saying anything. Then he called out, "Severus. Come here please." The murmur of people around died down. Some turned to look at us, and I am sure my face reddened. I could see out of the corner of my eye, Harry and his groups were watching. Draco was looking for something in the crowds. I couldn't see anyone coming.

Then, finally, a greasy haired man strode toward us. He said quite clearly to the crowds, "Nothing to see here." The people seemed to accept this and went back to business. He approached the other man, grimacing.

"What is it?" Severus was a tall, bony man with terribly greasy black hair. His eyes seemed to blaze at the mere thought of being summoned by the other, and he was wearing dark robes that reminded me of a bat. He acknowledged the boys around me; they did the same.

The shabby man pointed to me. "This girl has seemed to forgotten her wand on the train. I was hoping you could tell us if she is telling the truth." Severus stared at me for a moment. There was something about his eyes, as if they were seeing right through me. I quickly looked away; the thought was unnerving.

"How did you get here?"

I answered still staring intently at my toes, "through the wall by platform nine." My finger pointed to the wall that I indeed entered.

"Look at me," Severus' cold voice startled me into looking up. Then the strange feeling of something going through my mind came over me. I felt almost disconnected from my body, as if I was floating away. Suddenly the sensation stopped. "The girl is telling the truth, Lupin," he muttered to 'Lupin'. "Tell me," he asked, "what house and year are you?"

What could I say? I don't even know what the houses are! Well the year would be sixth, because I am sixteen. Then I remembered something Draco said earlier. '…don't know why he is in Gryffindor…' I decided to try it. "I'm in Gryffindor, sixth year." Lupin and Severus exchanged looks. Draco also had a, dare I say, surprised expression.

"Gryffindor you say?" I nodded uneasily. "We shall see." With that warning, Severus Snape departed, vanishing into the crowds.

Draco glared at me. "You're a _Gryffindor_?!" He stalked off without another word, his cronies following suit.

I was rather bewildered. Lupin spoke up. "Have we met before? Your face seems familiar."

"No, I don't think so." I said goodbye quickly and hurried on the train, stopping only to glance back. Lupin was again standing by Harry Potter. They seemed to know each other, talking with ease. Then the group got onto the train on another set of steps.

I climbed up the stairs at the one nearest to me. Halfway down the hall, I froze. My backpack was still in Malfoy's compartment! I raced down the corridor to the end. Should I wait for him to open it, and then grab it? Will he even come back to this one? Slowly, I approached it. He jinxed the door, but I don't even know what it would do. I reached out my hand, and quickly grasped the handle.

Immediately, I was lifted up into the air by invisible threads. The ceiling seemed to bend so I could be raised up even higher. It must have been ten feet! I could hear someone screaming. I looked down and saw many people gathering around where I last stood. At last, a voice cried out, "finite incantatem!" The strings holding me up vanished and the ground came to meet me. Then I felt myself slow down and landed on my hands and knees gently. Someone pulled me onto my feet. "Are you alright?" a teen's voice asked. I nodded uneasily. This morning's breakfast was fighting to re-enter the world. I pulled myself together and looked up. The inquirer was standing in front of me, surrounded by his friends and others; all of them had their wands out. It was Harry Potter.

The man with the ever-moving eye had one eye on me, the other on the compartment door. Lupin muttered something under his breath and the door opened with a click. Inside, Crabbe, Goyle, Malfoy, and a group of other teens were inside laughing. Just the look on their faces made my blood boil.

"_Malfoy._" Harry growled. He pulled out his wand. Malfoy did as well, and advanced toward him. Lupin grabbed Harry's arm.

"Harry, don't do anything rash, Sirius would be furious if you got hurt."

But he didn't listen and soon enough Harry and Malfoy were facing each other in the hallway. The crowds retreated several feet. I did the same. The girl with bushy hair grabbed the boy next to her and moved back. I saw several wands come out of pockets and a few rose up. This reminded me of an old western movie my father watches; the hero and villain duel, raise up their guns and whoever is faster, well, wins.

Before Malfoy could utter a word, Harry yelled, "Conjunctivitis!" Draco dodged easily and sent out an array of lights towards Harry.

"Petrificus Totalus! Locomotor Mortis!"

Harry blocked the 'spells' and returned with another shot of light. People began to run away from the scene. Harry's 'bodyguards' were also conjuring bubbles around Harry.

Just then, twenty robed people appeared out of thin air. Masks hid their faces. A shrouded individual then called out in a deep man's voice to a person masked on his left, "the girl, she is related to the one he wants." He pointed at me. I gazed at him with wide eyes. 'What? Does he mean Harry?' Then I remembered the earlier conversation with Malfoy.

"Who are you?"… "Olivia…" "Olivia Potter."

The man must have been the shadow by our door and heard us talking! My heartbeat quickened as I saw the person next to him turn. I wanted to run, to flee from the area. But my feet were heavy as boulders and they wouldn't listen to my mind. The other appeared very pleased. The veiled being began to approach me. Five feet away, he stopped, wand raised at me.

"Is that so?" the person hissed. Out of the corner of my eye, the other nodded, now sending a curse at Lupin. "He will be pleased to know another threat is out of his way." The man raised his wand a little higher; I finally regained control over my body and began to back up.

"Avada Kedavra!" he roared.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

A bright green beam shot out at me, and I knew this was the end. I took one last step behind me, and by some miracle, tripped over something large. I flew backwards and landed on the object, missing the light by inches. The wind instantly knocked out of me, so I laid there as people around me shot magic beams of light from their wands. Harry was still dueling with Malfoy both looking worse than when they began, Lupin was defending himself against another masked fighter, and the red heads were all standing next to each other, holding up bubbles that were repelling any light shot at them.

The sirens began to wail outside again. A robotic voice spoke out, "code red. Aurors approaching." Everyone stopped fighting and I got the chance to turn over and see what I had fallen over. Brushing a strand of hair from my eyes, I twisted onto my stomach. Underneath me was an unconscious masked fighter. I recoiled and hastily rose up onto my feet. Around me, the supposed enemies all disappeared with loud 'bangs'.

Seconds later, a large assembly of uniformed people burst into the hallway. They all had wands raised, and pointed at all of us. More of them began to check all of the compartments. A few people were raised onto stretchers that appeared from nowhere, others were helped down the stairs. I glanced around. No one seemed in immediate danger, though many were worse for wear. A round-faced boy with large teeth and an innocent face was clutching his right arm, where a burn hole went through his shirt. Harry was sporting a line of blood on his forehead, but it was just a scratch, I deduced. The red heads and the brown-haired girl had taken down their bubble-things and were talking to Harry rapidly. Harry's protectors were conversing and the man with the chiseled face and wild eye was glaring at anything that had two legs. I saw his eye turn on me, and he muttered something to Lupin. Lupin nodded and glanced at me. Malfoy and his gang were back in their compartment, and being questioned by two 'aurors'. I was a little uplifted to see that Malfoy sported a black eye.

Then the whole event came crashing down on me. There were magic people here, with magic kids, and being attacked by masked people. I was on a train, illegally, after following a group _through_ a _wall,_ was lifted into the air, and a man with an eye that always moved was staring at me. I took one more look at the group of strange people surrounding me. It became too much to bear, and then everything went black.

I was faintly aware of voices around me. "Don't know who she is. No one does." "We should get her to Dumbledore." "What's wrong with her?" "Dunno. Maybe she was poisoned or something." "_Really_ Ron! Use your brain! She fainted." I flinched at the onslaught of voices. Where were my parents? Did they leave the TV on? Did I fall asleep on the couch? Slowly, with much effort, I raised my eyelids a fraction. "Shhh! She's waking!" Blurry figures were standing by my bed. Wait, my bed? This is not my bed! I sat up quickly, blinking rapidly to clear my vision. This wasn't a bed at all. I was lying on a long seat in one of the train compartments. Everything came back to me from earlier. Six people were crammed on all sides of me. Harry and his two friends were sitting on the bench in front of me. Lupin, Snape, and the woman with pink-colored hair stood near the door. I felt very small with them towering over me.

I carefully avoided any eye contact with Snape. From the corner of my eye, I could see that the train was moving, and rain was pouring down on the large window. Lupin's voice kindly spoke up. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" Uh oh! I began to panic on the inside but I had put up a mask of indifference on the outside.

"I thought I already told you this. I'm a sixth year." My feeble voice betrayed my emotions. The three teens looked back to the adults. Snape's eyes narrowed dangerously.

He stepped forward a bit. "I don't believe you. She could be a spy from the Dark Lord," he said. Boy, the ground was looking very nice today. I didn't answer him. I do not even know who the Dark Lord is! He pulled something from the inside of his robes. From my peripheral vision, it appeared to be a small bottle with a liquid inside. He then turned to the other two adults.

"Shall we use veritaserum?" Lupin shook his head.

"No. We will wait for Dumbledore. We are almost there." I could have sighed with relief but remained silent. I glanced around and realized that my backpack was still in Malfoy's compartment. There was no use of trying to get it now. I would have to wait until the train stopped.

We waited in silence for about ten minutes before the train slowed to a stop. The sounds of doors opening filled our ears. Our door opened as well, and we stepped out into the hall. I spoke up, "my bag is still in Malfoy's compartment." Snape silently left and moments later returned with the said bag. I reached for it but he did not hand it to me. He instead gave it to the woman. Sighing, I followed them out and down the steps. It was still raining like mad and we got drenched immediately. The sight that welcomed me was magnificent. A gigantic castle stood before us. Turrets shot up into the clouds. The grounds around it were very spacious, with rolling hills and trees. A good-sized lake was on one side of the castle. I am sure it would have been lovely to go swimming in it on a pleasant summer day.

But then when I looked at the walls surrounding the castle, I noticed tiny floating black things. At a closer look, they appeared to be like the grim reaper, with hooded cloaks. Harry muttered, "Dementors, again. To _protect _us."

A voice was calling, "Firs' years! O'er here!" I glanced at the man calling, then did a double take. He was huge! He must have been ten feet tall, with a long meshed-up beard and small beady eyes. All of the small first years were gathering around him. Boats were on the shore of the lake. Carriages were waiting for us, and tethered to the carriages, were the most bizarre creatures I had ever seen. They were black with horse like features, but they certainly were not horses. I turned to a sound. Harry was staring at the creatures.

He stopped walking. "I thought the thestrals were taken away by the ministry," he said in confusion, mopping water off his face. His friends stopped to look.

The girl spoke up, "Harry, I don't see anything." The boy nodded in agreement. The adults stopped as well.

"No, there are thestrals tied up to the carriages!" Harry yelled pointing directly at one. "It's right there! Remus, didn't the ministry decided that thestrals were too dangerous to have at the school?" Lupin approached Harry through the mud.

"I believe that Dumbledore and Hagrid convinced them that they are tame. I can't see them but I'm sure that at least one other person can in this area." Snape frowned at Lupin's remark, and he appeared to want to be anywhere but there. Remus? So that was Lupin's first name. I didn't say anything about me being able to see them. Probably would have made things worse. Lupin leaned in towards Harry and murmered, "I believe that Sirius is coming immediately after hearing about the attack at the train station. He will be here soon." Harry brightened at this. They pulled their trolleys onto a nearby carriage and hopped on. The woman with wild hair stood behind me, so I had no choice but to board. It was just large enough for all seven of us to squeeze in. I sat squished between Snape and Lupin. Harry's snow owl hooted quietly in front of me. The other boy's owl, however, was flitting wildly about its cage. The girl had a carrier, inside was a large orange cat with a mashed face. It was watching the tiny bird with fascination.

The carriages rolled to a stop a few minutes later in the front of the castle and we hopped off about forty feet from the castle. Everyone clamored around, heaving the suitcases out of the The woman, with brightly colored hair, mentioned something about having to talk to someone and disappeared into the crowds, walking towards the left side of the castle. Wait, I remembered. She still had my backpack. Checking to see that the group was distracted by the luggage, I went after her. Rain continued to pour down in buckets, but I could still see a bright pink head in the crowds. Behind me, I could hear the red headed boy yelling, "where did that girl go?!" Thirty feet away, I turned to glance back. All five of them were searching the crowds for my face. Then Snape's eyes locked onto mine. I was immediately frozen in place. He pointed at me and Lupin instructed the three teens to get inside the castle. Then Lupin and Snape began to move towards me, wands out.

I could do nothing but stand there and wait for Snape to lose eye contact, but he did no such thing. They were fifteen feet away now. I needed to find my backpack. It had my running clothes, money, my drawing book, and camcorder. It also had a ring with a ruby diamond in the center. It was given to me by my great-grandmother at her deathbed. She whispered in my ear that it was in our family for generations and would protect me. I always have it with me and was told to never let anyone take it. I could not just break my promise. They were ten feet away now. Then a boy ran headfirst into me. I fell over into the mud. "Where did she go?" Lupin called. I was free from the stupor that held me and I didn't waste any time sitting around. I jumped up immediately and began to run towards the place that I last saw the woman.

When I got there, she was not in sight. I searched around quickly and saw muddy footprints leading around the castle and up into one of the towers. I had a bad feeling about this. Gathering my courage, I slipped up the stairs. There were hundreds of steps. After minutes, I could see the top. Two voices reached my ears, a woman's and a man's. I edged a little closer. They seemed to be arguing.

I peeked around the curved wall to look. Two figures were standing on the left side of the tower. One was leaning on the wall; the other, shorter, one was standing up. Lightning lit up the sky, and I got a glimpse of their faces. The woman was not the person I followed, but was tall with dark brown, shoulder-length hair and cold brown eyes. Her stance was sly, if it could be so, her eyes burned with rage at the man talking to her. He was very short with graying hair and watery blue eyes. One of his hands was metal. I saw my bag at the edge of the wall, a mere foot away from where I crouched. I could reach it. From my viewpoint, neither of them had a clear view of the bag. Taking a risk, I crept forward, grasped the handle, and yanked hard. It came easily into my arms, so I moved back out of view. Staring at my backpack, I do not know why, but I truly wanted to wear the ruby ring. Hiding in the shadows, I unzipped the top flap carefully and rummaged around for a moment, before retrieving it. It felt comforting, in my hand, as if none of this would be as bad as I thought it was. It even seemed to shine brighter as I slipped it on my ring finger.

The duo's voices brought me back to reality. The woman was shrieking. "Peter Pettigrew! You give me that potion now! They will be noticing my absence any moment now."

The man, Peter, shook his head warily. "Too risky. We cannot poison Potter; he is to be left to the Dark Lord. Dumbledore is too smart to let anyone get near him. Moreover, the old man is not going to be poisoned by a mere changeling, not when he can withstand Him. He wants you to return into hiding and wait for His orders." He gave a shudder of fright.

She stood up straighter; an idea seemed to come to her. "Forget the potion. The Dark Lord does not know of the relative," she hissed. "I have seen her. A normal girl she is, nothing special at all. One would even think she is a _muggle_." She emitted a high-pitched laugh. "But the boy is foolish, and he would play the hero, leading himself into a trap. We would be rewarded greatly."

I began to descend the winding stairs, and was almost twenty steps down when my wet sneaker squeaked obnoxiously against the cold stone steps. I winced and glanced around hurriedly. "What was that?" called Pettigrew. There were sounds of movement.

"Check it out," growled the woman. Shuffling sounds ensued. I stumbled towards the exit, about one hundred stairs below. Something brushed against my leg; I stopped, and inhaled sharply. A rat was on the step my right foot was on currently. I stood in horror as the rat rapidly began to grow and morph into the man, Peter Pettigrew.

He stared at me suspiciously. "Who are you?" he questioned, gnashing his teeth together in a rodent-like manner. My voice caught in my throat, I could not call for help!

A voice behind me screeched, "It's her! The relative!"

Pettigrew's eyes widened and he lunged out at me. I found my voice and cried out as loud as I could, "help!" Then something extraordinary occurred. A glowing ruby light suddenly illuminated the stairway. It was the ring on my finger. The light suddenly surrounded me, and only me, like a bubble. Pettigrew could not stop in time and ran straight into it. He was thrown across the wide stairs and hit the stone wall, landing unconscious in a heap. I stared at him in shock, and then turned to see that the woman was doing the same.

She immediately yelled, "Incarcerous!" The spell was deflected on my 'shield'. She glared at me before the tall woman fled up the stairs. After a moment of shock, I got a grip on myself and sprinted down the long flight of steps.

When I reached the entrance, I leaned against the wall and gasped for air. A nasty stitch was cutting into my side. That was the freakiest thing that had ever happened to me. My ring was still glowing, but the shield around me was gone. I examined the grounds carefully. The rain was continuing to pour from the clouds overhead at a worrisome rate. Trees were scattered around. My first thought was to run under a tall thick tree and stay out of the rain, as well as hide from the two people upstairs trying to capture me. Then I remembered the lightning that accompanied the rather large storm. It would be foolish to jump in a tall tree.

Clambers from upstairs, alerted me of someone coming, running down rather. I needed somewhere to hide! I scanned the grounds for anything that could hide me, but there was nothing! The castle loomed over me. It could be the only place to go. I made up my mind, just as the footsteps were getting closer. I hoisted my bag up, pulled any stray hairs out of my face, and began to run. Puddles large as ponds became acquainted to my feet very quickly. Large pellets of water soared down on me. Any dryness I had went as soon as it came. I was near the huge double-doors now. All of the carriages were gone. No one was outside, I could not blame them, the weather was horrible. It must be dinnertime already.

I climbed up the stairs, stopped in front of the doors, and waited. A moment of indecision was facing me. Before I could push open the right door, though, someone tackled me to the ground. I whipped my head around. It was Pettigrew. He was standing over me, and held a wand in front of my eyes. "So you think you can attack me?" Pettigrew waved the wand. "I don't think so." He opened his awful mouth. I flinched, prepared for the spell that would come. However, a howling reached my ears. It sounded like a ferocious dog, not just the wind. Pettigrew's watery eyes widened. He jerked as a huge black dog came bounding into view and leaped onto the man, throwing him several feet. I jumped up, half-grateful for the dog saved me, half-scared because the dog appeared very unfriendly.

Peter was frozen in shock. The dog, growling, took Peter's leg into its mouth and began to drag him over to me. He stopped just a foot away from me. I did not know what he wanted, until I noticed that one of his paws was pointing at the door handle. I was stunned, but I leaned all my weight on the door and pushed. The door slid open with a groan. I stepped inside and held it open for the dog. It padded in, letting Pettigrew's head bang against the ground roughly. Pettigrew had found his voice and resorted to screaming in agony, though whether it was from pain or fright, I couldn't be sure. We were in a huge entrance hall. Many trolleys and suitcases were piled by the staircase. A large flight of stairs was straight ahead, there was a closed door on my left and larger, open, double-doors on my right. Noises of many people were coming from the right one. I felt something nudge my leg. The dog was standing next to me; he began to tread towards the open doors, Pettigrew's leg still firmly in his mouth. I went with them.

We entered another enormous room, bigger than the first. Four long tables were set up. Another table was up front, where, I assumed, must be the staff. An old man with a long grey beard was standing at the middle of the table; on his right was Lupin, followed by a short little man, and a woman with hair in a tight bun, reading glasses bridged on the edge her nose. On his left were Snape, a woman with huge glasses and frizzy hair, and a few more teachers. The older man was in the middle of a speech. "…the threat of Vol-" he cut off. He stared at the three of us, but he hid his surprise quickly.

Every single person in the gigantic room turned to watch us. I suddenly felt very small. I was drenched head to toe; puddles of water were forming at my feet. The dog next to me was shook all the liquid from him, spraying water at anything nearby. Pettigrew did not try to escape. He just lay on the ground, shaking in fright and anger.

A voice cried, "Sirius!" Harry Potter jumped from his seat at the first table to our left and raced over. The dog, Sirius, wagged his tail and gave a muffled bark. The older man was also approaching as well, followed closely by Snape, Lupin, and the woman with reading glasses. I was nervous; they must know that I do not belong here. But the adults did not seem to notice me. All had drawn their wands and were pointing them at the small, evil man on the ground. Sirius let go of Pettigrew's leg and trotted back to where Harry was standing, herding the teen back. The large dog then turned and barked at me.

"Dumbledore," murmured the woman, "do you know who this young lady is?" The man, presumably Dumbledore, gazed at me with searching eyes.

He finally spoke. "What is your name?" All of the adults were watching me now, save Lupin who was tying up Pettigrew with rope from his wand.

Should I lie to him, and say Olivia Potter? Or should I tell them my real name. I decided on the latter. "Olivia Camelle." He nodded almost unnoticeably. It seemed as if he knew who I was.

"Very well Ms. Camelle. I will now ask you to follow Professor Snape up to my office. I will be up there shortly. Mr. Potter, you go too." Harry looked up, surprised. Dumbledore glanced at the large black dog. "Sirius," he addressed the dog, "it might be wise for you to accompany them." Sirius barked.

Snape was looking very sullen. He appeared that he would rather quit his job right then and there and join a circus, than be helping random students to offices. He drawled, "Come on Potter, and bring that mutt of yours." Sirius at hearing this growled aggressively and bared his fangs at the professor. The latter merely rolled his eyes and lead the way out of the dining hall. Harry and the dog followed him. I hurried forward and into the entrance area, glimpsing Remus dragging Pettigrew out of the room. I could not dwell on this however, as we roamed up the stairs and into an empty corridor.

We walked on and soon were in a larger hall. Snape stopped in front of a stone gargoyle. "Bertie Botts." To my amazement, the gargoyle leaped to life and moved aside, revealing a doorway. I turned to Harry, he wasn't fazed a bit. Sirius raced up the stairs inside the entrance. Harry went was well, followed by me, Snape taking up the end. Once we were all on, the staircase spiraled upwards. As suddenly as it started, it stopped at a door. Snape moved past us and opened it, marched in. Sirius dashed in as well. Harry approached the door but stopped and looked at me.

"Do you know what this is about?" His vivid green eyes searched mine, as if looking for the answer in their very depths.

I shook my head. "No, not a bit." It was not a lie, yet it was not completely truthful. I was probably found out about my sneaking onto the magical train and would be dealt with. What if they wiped my memory? Wait a minute. Then why was Harry here?

Harry seemed to accept this answer and entered the well-lit room. I took a deep breath and stepped inside.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I immediately saw a large room. A second level was further inside, overlooking the front. The cream-colored walls were covered on the right side with rows of pictures in unblemished gold frames. The pictures, I squinted in disbelief, were moving, like they were alive! I was about to brush it off as not enough rest when I stopped and decided, 'anything is possible today.' To my left, a large bird was perched on a tall bookshelf, one of many, its brilliant red and orange plumage spread gracefully out. It cawed at us softly. Harry moved toward the bird and greeted him. "Hello Fawkes." Fawkes hopped down and landed gently on Harry's outstretched arm. The teen petted him calmly. Fawkes cawed again and lifted off from his arm, flying back to the security of the shelf. A desk was placed in the center of the room. A large comfortable grey chair sat on one side; on the other were two purple chairs. I strode over to the desk and sat down in one of the chairs. Snape leaned against the wall next to Fawkes' shelf. Harry sat in the other chair next to me, and the dog lay on the ground next to him. The teen bent down and said calmly, "It's ok Sirius. I don't think she will tell anyone." The dog whined a bit in protest, but he grew taller and morphed. Seconds later the dog was now a man, about thirty-five years of age. He had shaggy black hair and grey eyes. He stood up.

"How did you do that?" I questioned. Sirius looked at me, brushing off any dried on dirt from his robes.

"I'm an animagus," he began, "I can change into a certain animal at will." I nodded though I still did not understand.

I muttered to myself, "Pettigrew did that too." Harry and Sirius' heads snapped up.

"What do you know about Peter Pettigrew?" Harry's voice was tinged in anger though I do not think the anger was directed at me.

I shrugged, "Nothing really. Just, I saw him change from a rat to a human."

"He attacked you in front of the school," Sirius added. "I arrived from an order meeting just in time. You were lucky. That rat has murdered more than a dozen people." He fell silent, brooding in the past.

Ten minutes passed in silence. I fidgeted in my chair until I could not sit anymore and explored the room. The pictures were of different headmasters and mistresses and moved like real people. They were sleeping, a few lightly snoring. One was obviously faking though; he was snoring much unnaturally loud, louder than any normal sleeper would. Sirius had conjured up a chair and was now slouched in it, fast asleep. Harry sat in his chair, staring off into space. And Snape, Snape did not move the entire time, almost becoming invisible. I examined the bookshelves' contents that lined up on the left side of the room, and took out a book labeled 'Experienced Potions'. I brought it back to the purple chair and opened the book to the Table of Contents. It did not contain things I had heard of, nor did I want to. There was Veritaserum, which was mentioned on the train, Elixir of Life, which gave you eternal life, Polyjuice Potion, Sleeping Drought Potion, and more. Strange. Returning the book back to its original place on the shelf, I reached for another.

I chose, ironically, a large dusty book called 'Advanced Spells.' This could be interesting. I lifted the cover and flipped through the ages. There were spells that could change your IQ, to the good or bad, change the will of others, one called 'Expecto Patronum', though I did not read that one. I turned the page to a written-in spell called 'Poloportalus', which would create a portal to another world/planet/scene in a book/ even into your mind. You could also anywhere in the world, like Italy. The word you spoke was Poloportus, and then you must think hard of where you wanted to go. I glanced around. No one was paying attention.

Taking the book in one hand, I thought about going to Disney World in Florida. I always wanted to visit that place again. I envisioned it in my mind. Concentrating as hard as I could, I whispered, "poloportus." Nothing happened. Frowning, I tried repeatedly, but still nothing. I checked the instructions. Then I noticed a footnote at the bottom of the yellowing page. 'For wand-less magic, say poloportus as well as the place you wish to visit.'

I took the advice, summoned up the image, and whispered, "Poloportus, Disney World." It did not work. What if I wasn't magical at all? Frustrated, I thrust the book closed, causing a cloud of dust to fly into the air, and angrily yelled, "Poloportus, Disney World!" Immediately, with a loud 'bang' a large mirror-like circle appeared, floating in the middle of the room. It hovered a foot in the air, and in the inside, you could see the entrance to the theme park. At the desk, Harry jumped a foot in the air, wide eyed. Sirius, snapped awake, and fell out of his chair, landing ungracefully on the ground. The professor leaped from his spot in the corner. He already had his wand out.

Snape called, "finite incantatem!" But the portal did not disappear. In fact, it seemed to grow larger. Nervously, I slid the book back onto the shelf. All three of them turned to look at me. Then Snape rounded on me. "What exactly do you think you are doing?" I was saved from answering, however, as the door to the stairs opened and Dumbledore entered pleasantly. He stopped and stared at us, curiosity reflecting in his eyes. Snape looked furious, Sirius on the floor, and Harry and I both gazing at the portal in the middle of the room, which had elves in it.

"Well," Dumbledore began calmly, "I see you've been keeping yourselves entertained."

Dumbledore approached his desk cheerfully and took a seat in his large chair. The portal still floated hazily to the left of the desk. Sirius was standing next to Harry, arms folded over his chest. I sat silently in my chair, watching worriedly as the irritated professor stood by the bookshelves, flipping through books, trying to find the counter-spell. He threw another book, about NEWT spells, unceremoniously onto the ground. Dumbledore spoke up. "Olivia Camelle, you and your parents should be in hiding still, and yet here you are. I have already invited them over, and they are most surprised. In fact, they agree that you have been told nothing about Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." He looked at Harry, "I bet you have no idea why you are here as well Harry." The teen shook his head. "Can you not see the resemblance?" The headmaster gazed at me. I turned to see Harry. We did appear quite alike.

Harry frowned, "We look related, but that can't be possible. You said that I have no other blood relations but the Dursleys."

At this Dumbledore's face crinkled with guilt. "I am very deeply sorry Harry, but she is indeed your cousin, from your father's side. He had a brother, who is Olivia's father. Her family, like yours, had to go into hiding because of Voldemort. They were very high up on his list of people to convert, not only because both were aurors, but also because they were related to your family. Therefore, when they refused, they were put on his hit list. We all agreed that going into hiding was their only option. I was and am their secret keeper. They had to change their name to her mother's maiden name, so they could let Olivia go to Muggle School. Your family unfortunately was betrayed and your home was found. You know the rest of the story." He stopped and waited for this to sink in. So I was related to Harry Potter after all. Somehow, this did not truly surprise me. But it sure did shock Harry.

"Let me get this straight," he stood up swiftly. "You put me in the DURSLEY'S home, even though I had other relatives." His voice began to rise. Sirius put a comforting hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off. "You both lied to me; my life could have been completely different!"

"Harry," started Sirius, "We are very sorry." Harry fell back in his chair, a very sullen look now plastered on his face. We all sat in silence; even Snape had stopped throwing books onto the ground and was wearing a guarded expression on his face, as if he did not want anyone to know what he was thinking. A minute passed, and a knock on the door startled everyone.

"Come in," Dumbledore sighed. The door opened and in walked my mother and father. I sat up straighter as they approached the desk with a nod to each person. When their eyes landed on me, I sank in my chair a bit. "Welcome, please have a seat." Dumbledore flicked his wrist and two more chairs appeared, next to mine. "It appears that your daughter has somehow found her way to Hogwarts, though I do not know how." My mother gave my father a scathing look, and he shook his head rapidly. Everyone looked at me.

"Do you care to explain, Olivia?" my mother asked gently. I began to tell them everything, seeing them disappear into the wall, going on the train, floating in the air, and running from the carriage. Snape sent a glare at me when I mentioned the carriage part, but no one interrupted me. I told them how the woman changed from the pink-haired woman, and how her and Pettigrew were arguing. My mother gasped as I told them how Pettigrew had almost caught me, and Dumbledore seemed very curious when I mentioned my ring protecting me. I finished with explaining that Sirius saved me, and that is how I ended up here.

Snape was the first to break the silence. "Dumbledore, as fascinating as this is, why am I here?" Sirius appeared to agree.

Dumbledore replied seriously, "Severus, if this girl stays at Hogwarts, then she will also have to be protected from any onslaught of Voldemort, or he could use her against us. You would have to teach her Occlumency along with continue Harry's studies. To the point, we must decide if Ms. Camelle should stay here at Hogwarts, or go back home. I must remind you though, Voldemort probably has been told by now that Olivia is Harry's cousin. It was not your intent Olivia, but you were right about being his cousin, though you did not know it at the time. If she stays here, she will have to use the last name of Potter, because many people know her as such."

My parents exchanged looks. Then my mother spoke up. "Why don't we let Olivia decide?" I sat there for a moment. Go to a magical school or plain-jane school? Was that even a real choice?

"I would like to stay here," I responded. Harry sent me a tiny smile, as did Dumbledore.

"Splendid," he exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "Now, I believe you must be sorted. You have been gone for five years, but we will resolve that later." A pointed hat appeared on the desk, looking extremely worn. "Place the hat on your head, and it will call out the House that you will be placed in." I reached slowly for the hat and carefully set it on my head. Instantly, a voice spoke in my head.

"Very good, a late bloomer you are. Much future for you that I can tell. Smart- perhaps Ravenclaw, a lot of courage- would be great in Gryffindor, or Slytherin might be a good fit- you are sly if need be, could be powerful." The word Slytherin immediately reminded me of a snake, a slimy, greasy snake that could do whatever it wanted. Just like Malfoy, I thought with revulsion.

I decided to make a request. "Can I be with Harry, or in something besides Slytherin?" The hat stopped its pondering.

Then it replied, "Your courage is strongest I see. Let's put you in-" it suddenly cried out to everyone in the room, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry looked much happier. I pulled the hat off my head and set it back on the desk. "Well," Dumbledore started, "The only thing left to do is get you information about the past five years that you have missed. For this, I need your help Harry." Harry was surprised, but agreed. The headmaster stood up, walked past the portal still in the room, and searched for a something on the shelves. He appeared confused for a second before muttering, "Accio 'Dangerous Spell' book." A volume flew off a shelf and landed in his hands. "Must have replaced it," he said, more to himself. Dumbledore approached the desk with the same book that I had used earlier to create the portal that still had elves walking through it. "Harry," he addressed to him, "you must think of all of the things that you have learned, just summarize it in your head. Then with this spell, I will make a copy of the information, and Olivia will receive the information. It is like reading someone's notes that they took in class." He turned to me. "It will not be nearly as good as being in the classes and it will not make you actually able to perform the spells, that takes much practice, but you will have the knowledge of the spells and potions and so forth to build on for the rest of the time that you will be here." I was nervous, but with encouraging smiles from my parents, I nodded.

Dumbledore began to mutter under his breath and Harry closed his eyes, possibly trying to visualize everything. Then I jolted as thousands of strange words suddenly poured into my mind. None of it made any sense. Pictures of potions and cauldrons ran through my brain. As fast as it started, the onslaught stopped, and I opened my eyes. I did not realize that I shut them. Now, with the word that Dumbledore said, 'accio', I knew that it meant 'to summon'.

"Did it work?" my father asked. I nodded.

"I think so. My head feels so full!"

"Wonderful!" exclaimed Dumbledore. He waved his hand and a large pile of books appeared, there must have been fifteen. "Here are your books I am lending you to look over tonight before you begin classes tomorrow. They are from your first, second, third, and fourth year. Tomorrow you will go with Sirius at eight o clock to get your school supplies; wand, books, robes, etc. The feast should have finished by now, so we shall send up some supper from the kitchens. Now, Harry, if you would be so kind and take Olivia to the Gryffindor room, I need a word with Professor Snape, Mr. Black, and Mr. and Mrs. Camelle." Harry complied, I turned to leave, but I remembered something. I grabbed the dusty book of spells off the desk, flipping to the portal page. At the bottom it read, the portal-maker must enter the portal and leave it for the portal to disappear. Uh oh. Setting it down, I hugged my mother and father goodbye and followed Harry down the winding stairs, us both hauling the books with us. I also slung my backpack on my shoulder, making an even heavier load.

We walked for a while through various corridors until we finally came upon a very big moving portrait. A large woman was painted in there with a long pink dress and curls in her hair. She appeared to be drinking a couple glasses of wine, to celebrate the start of a new year. She squawked, holding a large wine glass in her hand, "Password, kind sir and lady." I glanced at Harry; he shrugged, appearing a bit worried. We stood there for a moment before running footsteps reached my ears, and a girl's voice say, "Felix felicis!" The portrait swung open to reveal a passageway, followed by a door. I turned to see who it was that said the password. It was the girl who stood by Harry at the train station, the bushy-haired one. She sported black robes, almost identical to Harry's robes, except a badge with 'P' was at the top, near the collar.

"Hermione!" called Harry, brightening at the sight of his friend. She waved for us to follow her inside and entered the room. We stepped into a very large room, most likely the common room for Gryffindor. The walls were gold and red tapestries. Long white couches surrounded a large fireplace, logs crackling merrily in the hearth. The room was crowded with people hauling up suitcases and animals up two sets of stairs. A small sign by one staircase read 'girls' dormitories', the other at the other staircase read 'boys' dormitories'. In the back right corner of the room, where we approached, the red headed friend of Harry's was sitting at a table. He looked up, saw us, and stood.

"Harry, where've you been?"

Harry replied, "I was in Dumbledore's office with Sirius and Olivia, my cousin," he nodded to me. I smiled shyly at the other two's curious faces. We both set down my books on the table, it groaned with all of the unwelcome weight.

Hermione began to tell us what happened in the Great Hall, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, "We just saw you leave with Sirius and Snape and Olivia, and then Professor Lupin took Pettigrew out. We don't know where," she added quickly when Harry opened his mouth. "Dumbledore finished his speech about the new castle security, and we ate dinner. Oh yes, there are panic buttons in every classroom, and in the Great Hall, as well as in Hagrid's hut. The whole castle has been fortified with new things; the main doors have double the security that last year had. In addition, Dementors are here again, but Dumbledore does not trust them a bit, says they are here on orders of Voldemort, not Fudge. No one is allowed near them. A new curfew is in place, so if you are caught out of bed, you will be suspended from Hogwarts or worse, expelled. This is our only night of Prefect watches, the teachers and ghosts are to do the watches from now on." Here she stopped for a breath. "Oh, and Professor Lupin is going to be here, though not teaching, he will be helping Dumbledore on some mission, which means that we have a New Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. They weren't there tonight, so we should meet him or her tomorrow."

Harry sat down on a long white couch that sat in front of the fire. We all did the same. He began to explain what happened in the office, and I added some parts as well. I also talked about my life before today. Ron, Hermione, and Harry voiced their thoughts of how awesome it was that I was there. They in turn told me stories of their adventures in their earlier years.

A strange creature, a house-elf Harry explained, brought us dinner. His name was Dobby. The elf had socks of flashing colors placed on his large ears, as well as on his feet. A tea cozy sat comfortably on his body, though everyone said it was better than the last one he had. Also, a knitted sweater with the initial, 'R', covered him. I had an idea of where it came from. Extravagant meals piled on a large silver platter, half of which Ron helped eat. His excuse was, 'don't want you to get sick by eating all of this yourselves.' When we finished, a comfortable silence fell over the area. People had long since left the common room, going up to their dorms. At last, my three new friends headed off to bed; after all, we had our first day of lessons tomorrow. I was to stay in Hermione's dorm, since one of her roommates had been pulled from school.

I was so exhausted…


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

My eyes snapped open again. I sat up a little straighter and hunched over the book I was trying to absorb. The text said something about floating objects, but every time I got through half of it, I fell asleep. Maybe I should have just gone to bed. All of the books were so confusing, all talking about swishes and flicks and prods with your wand. I was frustrated when I could not practice at all. I had made the portal without a wand, but I could not do it again. It was too hard to concentrate like that.

Glowing embers cast eerie shadows on the walls and furniture. A clock struck two in the morning. I leaned back in the couch and watched the dying fire in the fireplace, content to just lie there. It had been a very exhausting day. I was almost asleep when a face appeared in the fire, in the very flames. I almost fell off the couch, my heart racing. It was Sirius. He, rather his head, said clearly, "Hello Olivia. I'm Sirius Black, we weren't really introduced. Is Harry around?" I shook my head, sitting up. He seemed downhearted by this and appeared rather sad. I felt bad. But wait, the trio said earlier that Hermione could get into the guys' dormitory. Maybe I could too.

"Hold on a second." I pushed the book of third year spells, that was resting on the couch, onto the pile on the small table beside me and stood up, shaking any sleep from my head. I'm sure I looked splendid, curly hair everywhere. I tied my hair in a ponytail quickly, and headed over to the boys' staircase. I breathed in deeply and ran up the stairs as quietly as I could. At the top of the stairs, there were many doors. Which door? I used my instincts and opened the one on my far right. It slid open with a resounding creak. I flinched, but no sounds of movement came to my ears so I entered. Someone in one of the beds was snoring extremely loud. Luggage and clothes littered the floor. Five beds were spread throughout the circular room. I carefully pulled aside the hangings of each one, inwardly cursing as I tiptoed on the cold hard floor. In the first on the right, the round-faced boy was snoring profusely in. The second and third beds, I did not recognize their occupants.

I reached toward the hangings of the fourth bed, hoping it was Harry, when a voice muttered, "Don't touch that." I froze and glanced around hurriedly. There was no one there. "Get away from me spider!" It was coming from the bed I was standing next to. It sounded like Ron, so I went to the last one. Nevertheless, to my amazing bad luck, Ron's luggage carrier, hidden in the dark, became a large obstacle that I could not see. My leg hit it with a thump and I toppled over the luggage cart, landing in a heap on the ground. I gave a yelp of surprise, much like a cocker spaniel. The hangings of the fifth bed snapped open and Harry, in his pajamas, stepped out wand in the air. For a minute, he looked around the room before he saw me sprawled on the ground.

He squinted, "Olivia?" I nodded. He grabbed one of my hands and helped me up. "What are you doing in here?"

I felt a bit guilty for waking him up at two in the morning but I explained that there is a head in the fireplace. Sirius Black's head in fact. He stashed his wand in his pocket and we hurried downstairs. Sure enough, I was not going crazy, for the head was still there. Harry stepped up to the fireplace and asked, "Hey Sirius, what's up?"

Sirius appeared very happy to see Harry and began, "Fudge is coming in a week to see that Pettigrew is really himself, which means that everyone will know that I didn't kill those muggles or Lily and James. I'll be a free man!"

"That's great Sirius!" Harry exclaimed. "But why is he coming so late?"

"He probably doesn't consider this too big, considering he's worrying about Voldemort and all of the Death Eaters. They are attacking villages and muggles more and more everyday. All we have to do is make sure that Peter doesn't escape."

I was almost completely lost, except for the part about Pettigrew escaping. Harry noticed this, so he and Sirius explained everything. Took quite a while too. Sirius finally said goodbye and disappeared into the flames. Harry said goodnight and went back to bed. I sat on the couch for a minute before deciding that if I were to stay awake at all, then I would have to go to bed. I gathered up all of the books and set them on the table that Ron sat at earlier. Then I headed up the Girls Dormitory staircase, backpack in tow, and found the room. I carefully opened the door and looked around for an empty bed. There was one on the left side, with the hangings still tied to the bedposts. I pulled down the pressed white sheets, sunk into my new bed, and was asleep before I hit the pillow.

A voice interrupted my dreams, way to early for my liking. "Olivia, I forgot you were here! You only have fifteen minutes before Sirius is supposed to take you to Diagon Alley!" This shook me from my peaceful slumber, and my eyes shot open. After a moment of blinking furiously against the brightly lit room, a frantic Hermione was standing next to my bed, practically throwing clothes at me. "Here," she said quickly, "These were sitting on the floor by your bed. They're for you to wear." I inspected the clothing in my hands. Normal clothes, a blue long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans and other accessories, were on the top. At the bottom of the pile was a long black robe with the Gryffindor crest on the top right side.

"Thanks." I jumped out of bed, wincing at the iciness of the wood floor. With the clothes in one arm, I grabbed my bag on the ground. My hands reached for the toothbrush and toothpaste that were also on the ground. I also grabbed the hairbrush, towel, shampoo, and soap that were sitting there next to them. With those in hand, I ran into the bathroom to get ready as fast as I could. Ten minutes later, I emerged, hair dripping in tight curls. I hurriedly dried it with the towel, put my other items away in my bag, hung the towel up on a hanger, and bounded out of the door.

I almost ran over two girls heading to their dorm. With a short apology, I ran down the stairs and out of the Common Room. The portrait closed behind me silently. I skid to a stop in the hall. If only I could remember where the Dining Hall was. I walked around randomly until I saw a group of teens go in one direction and followed them. Luckily, my hunch was correct and the Great Hall came into view. I entered and gazed timidly at the four huge tables that occupied the room. I did not know where to sit. Someone recognized me from last night with my grand entrance and pointed me out to a few of his friends. They had a green crest on their robes. Slytherin. They must be slytherin. That table crossed off in my mind, I strode down the row until three friendly faces shone out from the crowds. "Over here!"

I sat down next to Hermione and grabbed a roll, spreading a chunk of butter over it. Harry handed me a piece of paper. It listed all of the classes I was going to take. I set it on the table and leaned over to look at everyone else's'. I had Charms with Hermione, Care of Magical Creatures with Ron, Potions with Harry, and Transfiguration as well as Herbology with all three. Also, Remedial Potions was placed at the top of the chart, though it was hand-written. Next to it the person also wrote '9pm'. A class that late? I showed this to them and Harry's eyes widened.

"I have that class too," he said, almost immediately glancing around to make sure no one extra was listening in. He leaned in further over his plate of bacon and toast. "It's Occlumency lessons," he muttered. Harry then sat back in his chair and glared at the Professors' table to where Snape was sitting. "Snape teaches it." The venom in his voice caused me to drop the subject. I crammed my roll into my mouth and barely finished swallowing it when Sirius came bounding into the Great Hall as a dog. He approached our table and sat down next to where I was sitting. I stood up, grabbed my timetable and said goodbye, and walked out with Sirius.

We exited the castle and began to walk on the trail that the carriages brought us there with. Sirius transformed back into a human and pulled out something from his pocket. It was a soda can. I did not ask what it was for. We approached the gates, where hundreds of floating ghost-like things were residing. Sirius made an incoherent noise next to me and in moments he was back to being a dog. One of the large gates creaked open to allow us to exit. But as we did, it got freezing cold. Horrible things of my past were suddenly rushed to the surface. The onslaught made me stop in my tracks, but Sirius barked at me to get going. I shook my head trying to clear away the images and ran forward, past the Dementors, so Harry had called them. Once past them, the awful feeling disappeared. Sirius was once again a human, glaring back at the evil floating creatures. "I hate those dementors. They remind me of Azkaban, the wizard prison. You never want to go there." He ended the subject, checked his watch, and held up the soda can. "Here," he said, "grab onto this." I did and waited for a moment. Nothing happened.

The tall grass was still green; the rolling hills of the scenery were still there. Then suddenly, there was a tug right around my navel. I gasped and felt myself pulled upwards. Moments later, we were standing in a street. Shops lined the street, as far as the eye could see. A sign behind me indicated that we were in Diagon Alley. Sirius tossed the empty can into a trash container next to the sign. He motioned for me to follow and led the way to the other side of the street, towards a place called 'Ollivander's Wand Shop.' Before he opened the door, he pulled out his wand and muttered something. His hair turned blond and short, and his eyes turned blue. "So no one recognizes me," he explained. We entered the shop, and the first thing that came to attention was loads of shelves. Shelves were everywhere on the walls. A desk was in the middle of the room, a vase full of daisies set on it.

A voice called out from the back of the room. "Wait just a second; I'll be right with you." An old man stepped out from the back room and came up to the desk. He had dark bugged eyes and stringy hair. An apron was around his person, covered in something dark and sticky. "Working on new wands," he explained at my stares. "You haven't been here before." It was a statement, not a question. "So, you need a wand do you?" I nodded. He hung his apron on a hook on a bit of wall that did not have shelving. "Which is your wand arm?" I did not exactly know, but I held up my right. "Very well. Let's try willow, nine and three-quarters inch, unicorn hair." He reached up to one of the boxes on the wall and pulled out a wand. He handed it to me. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Olivia Potter."

The man appeared shocked. "Ms. Potter? Hmm. This wand won't do at all. Let me get you something different." He took it back and searched for a different wand. He finally came back. "Ten and a half inches, cherry with dragon heartstring," he explained. The wand in my hand felt alien, like it did not belong there at all. Nevertheless, I gave it a little wave and the apron hanging up burst into flame. I dropped the wand in shock. Mr. Ollivander just waved his own wand and the flames disappeared. He went to go get another one. Every time I waved a wand, something bad would happen. I felt quite guilty when the vase broke, but the storeowner just said, "It must run in the family," and cleaned it up. Finally, thirty minutes later, I once again held up a wand in my hand. But this time it felt different. Like it wasn't weird to be holding a magic wand in my hand. I fluidly flicked my wrist, and purple sparks shot out of the wand tip.

Sirius who had been standing in the back half-asleep stood up and said, "Good, you've found your wand. How much is it?" he asked Mr. Ollivander.

Mr. Ollivander looked very pleased that I had unearthed my 'destined wand'. "That will be 7 galleons. A great wand you have received there; ten inch, holly, with a phoenix feather, much like Harry Potter's wand, though not the same phoenix feather." Sirius handed seven gold coins to the storeowner who nodded in gratitude. I thanked him. We left the store and started walking down the empty street. It must be just a shop complex, not for any vehicles. Sirius offered me the full bag of coins.

"This is from your parents for new school supplies." I accepted the drawstring bag and opened it, pulling out a small handful of the coins. One was large and gold, another was smaller, and the last was even smaller.

"What are these?" I asked curiously, turning the coins in my hand. They clanked together pleasantly.

Sirius stopped walking and pointed to the largest. "That is a galleon. And those are knuts and sickles," he indicated to the smaller ones. I nodded slowly, in comprehension.

"So galleons are worth a lot of money then?"

"Yes."

"Alright." We continued down the walkway, stopping at various shops. I bought black school robes from Madame Malkins. They looked very nice. Then we stopped at a bookstore and bought books with strange names like, 'Stepping into the Defense' by Frinda Furlocks. Sirius insisted on me buying 'Hogwarts, a History', saying that Hermione would kill him if he did not. With a bag of books and robes, we then went to the Aviary. Sirius explained that to contact people, they used owls to send messages, not postal service. I was going to buy one, but then I remembered my cat, Felix, and decided that I would bring him to school instead. I would borrow a school owl instead.

We went for the door, to go do some more shopping. But when I saw a tiny kitten all alone in a glass container by the door, my heart just melted. It was brown with white spots on his feet, with long fur that poofed him out, like a fuzz ball. He had sparkling blue eyes, which were locked on me. I reached for the door handle slowly, not wanting to leave. I could hear Sirius behind me stop. I asked, "Do you think I could take him?"

He considered it for a moment. "Well, technically they only want you to bring one pet to the school…but I'm not one for following rules myself. Go ahead." I reached in the glass container and carefully picked up the tiny ball of fluff, carrying the kitten to the counter.

The store clerk looked up as I approached the desk. "Oh, you have him." It was a statement. The woman had short brown hair and large glasses, enlarged eyes peered at the kitten and me.

"Yeah," I stated. "How much is he?"

She glared at the kitten. "That kitten has been loads of trouble. Our store bought him a couple of days ago. He is one of those slow-aging cats. Stays a kitten for a long time. Of course, it pleases girls who like small pets, but once he gets to that in-between stage, like teen years, he will be a nuisance. Take him about six months though. Are you sure you want that one?" She paused looking around the store. "What about that one, ages normally, much easier to handle." She was pointing to a red and white cat that changed its colors every couple of seconds. I shook my head. The woman sighed. "Seventeen sickles." I pulled out the moneybag and counted out seventeen sickles. Then I handed them over to the lady who cashed it. She pulled a carrying case out from under the desk and gave it to me. "For the kitten." Like I would use it for myself. I set it on the floor and coaxed him into the small case. With the case in one hand, bag of clothes in the other, I pushed the front door open, stepping into the light breeze outside. Sirius, who was waiting by the door, followed suit.

He turned to me, taking my clothes bag into the hand with the bag of books, as well as the kitten in the other. "I'll send these to Hogwarts so we don't need to carry them anymore. We need to visit a few more stores. I have an errand that I need to run, so I will be back in an hour. Go ahead and explore Diagon Alley." I thanked him for taking the items and he disappeared with a 'pop'.

I began to walk through the streets stopping at various shops. At the Quidditch Store, which I have NO idea what it is, there were brooms inside. One called the Firebolt looked fast, so it could be fun. I kept walking, stopped at an ice cream parlor, and finally got to a street that was called 'Nockturn Alley'. The brick was uneven, and the area was dark and spooky. Half of me did not want anything to do with that street, the other half was curious about what was down there. No one could be seen walking through that street, though at Diagon Alley, groups of people were scattered throughout the area. I wrapped my arms around myself tightly as a gust of wind rolled through. Folding my arms neatly, I put one foot on the twisted stones. Nothing strange happened, so I took another step, then another. Deciding that it was just an ugly part of town, I began to walk down the street. All of the stores had strange names, not adding to my list of good things about the area. Finally, after a couple of minutes, I saw a single person walking down the street, towards me. My instincts told me that I should hide. I quickly searched for somewhere. A pulsing red light caught my eye. I looked down; it was my ring. Taking that to mean that I definitely should hide, I jumped behind a large statue, to my right, of a wizard with the engraved name of 'Horus the Horrible'. The stranger was nearby now and I could tell who it was. It was the woman from the tower that disappeared. I crouched lower into the ground, tucking my ring under my arm to hide the glow. She must not have seen me. The woman glanced around suspiciously, before entering the window-less store ten feet away from me. I stood up after the door shut. What was she doing? I checked my watch. Sirius would be back any moment. Once again, my curiosity got the better of me and I edged to the door. The door had slipped ajar a crack. Raised voices could be heard through the gap. I leaned against the wall and edged it even further open. The woman was standing by two men, one of which was holding a mask, just like the attackers on the train the other day. She was arguing with them.

"You two should have known better than to just appear with others on the train! When I heard her talking to Malfoy's son, I summoned someone to remove the threat, but not until the train was moving. Now the relative is staying under the protection of Dumbledore. There is nothing that I can do there. The Dark Lord has specific orders to capture the relative alive." She paused, glaring at them. "You tell him that his new task will take time." The two men nodded warily. One of them started to talk about a new plan.

Instead of listening, I was in shock. A Dark Lord and others were trying to kidnap me? Why? I was brought out of my stunned state when a tickling in my nose started to rise. It slowly rose up higher. Not now! I tried to stifle it, but to no avail, I sneezed.

All three of them snapped to attention, wands out. I began to back away from the door. Through the crack, the three people were scanning the room. One of the men looked at the entrance and caught me. He gave a yell and pointed. Now all three were looking at me! I took off at once, bolting up the street. The woman screeched, "It's her! After her!" This made me go faster, but footsteps were gaining on me. The men's long legs were to their advantage. The steps got louder and louder until they were nearly to me. I could now see the sign that said Diagon Alley.

Then, from my left, an invisible hand snatched my wrist and pulled me over. I yelped, falling to the side, on the ground. Something light was thrown over me and a hand was put over my mouth. I tried to yell, but a person whispered, "Shh! It's us!" I whipped around and the hand came off. It was Harry and Ron. Harry was grasping the edges of a silvery blanket. Ron, on the other hand, was just staring at me in awe, or perhaps he was nervous. I looked past the silver material and could see the three people that were chasing me. They were pacing the area, the woman was fuming mad. She was screeching in an unknown language, upturning pots and looking behind open doors. Her search got closer and closer, and suddenly, she was standing right next me. All three of us held our breath. The woman leaned in, peering into the darkness. Then the men called something to her and she hastened away. They disappeared with a 'crack', leaving no trace of evidence behind. That is, except for me. How could they not have seen us? The reason for their immediate departure was hurrying down the street. Sirius, still in his disguise, and another man, who you could smell alcohol off a mile away, were speeding down the street.

"Mundungus," Sirius growled. "Let me get this straight. You left to barter for some illegal pixie wands, and when you got back, Harry and his friend Ron were gone. This just happened to occur while you were not here." The other man nodded his head. Harry threw the cloak off his head and called out Sirius' name. The two men turned around and ran over swiftly. I tossed the cloak off me, and so did Ron. Sirius gave a sigh of relief and said to me, "please, for the love of Merlin, don't wander down here. This part is dangerous." I apologized hastily. He waved it off. "I didn't tell you not to come over here; it's not your fault." He then turned to Harry seriously. "What were you thinking? Leaving school to follow your cousin into Knockturn Alley. I thought you knew not to come down here. How did you get here?" Harry appeared a bit gloomy that Sirius did not approve of him leaving school, but he explained anyways.

"I remembered the spell that Olivia yelled and tried it after breakfast. Hermione wouldn't come, but Ron did." Sirius became even more upset.

"Harry, don't use that again. Dumbledore himself wrote that spell, and it must stay in his office. If Voldemort gets his hands on that, he could appear in Hogwarts at any given time. There's no way to counter spell either, unless the user goes through it, as Snape found out." Harry nodded slowly. Great. That meant that at some point in time, I had to walk into the Lord of The Rings fantasy. It could be fun.

The three of us stood up from the ground. Harry stashed his amazing cloak in his robe pocket. We began to walk back up the street. On the way up, I explained to them how I had overheard the people. Sirius and the other man glanced at each other. "Dumbledore will want to hear about this."

We made our way to the front of the ice cream parlor. I soon learned that the staggering man beside me was Mundungus Fletcher, a _hardworking _special ops leader. That was until Ron began to laugh hysterically and Harry explained that the _hard worker_ was one of the most unreliable people I would ever meet in my lifetime. Mundungus, after talking to a stranger in the parlor, muttered something about used cauldrons and disappeared with the other person. Sirius then pulled out his watch and held out an ordinary muggle pencil. "About time," he said softly. Hermione had told me about the name for non-magic folk. At first, it sounded like a fowl name, but it was much better than mudblood. Sirius reached over and grasped Harry's shoulder with one hand, mine on the other, and instructed me to do the same with Ron.

I did so, and for some reason, butterflies rose in my stomach. I did NOT like Ron. That was ridiculous. Shaking that thought from my head, I took a breath of fresh air and prepared myself as a something tugged my stomach. We whisked away, landing in a heap next to Sirius.


End file.
